


Hot Chocolate For Two

by gnomesagetion



Series: Seasons Come And Go [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Colors of Fall Writing Challenge, F/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-16 23:33:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8121892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnomesagetion/pseuds/gnomesagetion
Summary: The Fall leaves have started to fall and Nik Chase is running late to meet her best friend. On the way, she stops into the Sweet Tooth Cafe. There she meets Gabriel Novak; the barista who hates pumpkin spice just as much as she does. They start talking and one thing leads to another. But will the fairytale romance that is sure to start be destroyed when Nik goes back to college?





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written for supernatural-jackles's Colors of Fall Writing Challenge on tumblr.

 

It was the first day of fall. When Nik and her best friend, Alyssa, were in high school, they had made a pact; no matter where they were in life, they’d met on the first day of fall in the town where they had both grown up in. One would buy drinks and the other would bring the food. This year Nik was buying the drinks. Then as they ate food, enjoyed a hot drink and walked through a park, the two friends would catch up. Alyssa attended Cal Arts. Nik studied at Yale. Alyssa was wanting to go into animation while Nik was becoming an accountant. Being on different sides of the country was hard on both of you. But both had always known that this was going to happen. Alyssa had always been good with a pencil and when she got a drawing tablet one Christmas her art was amazing. Nik was always going to get into an Ivy League college. Top classes for all her compulsory subjects and top marks in everything she did. Both were entering the final year of their respective degrees. While Nik planned to move back to her hometown, Alyssa had decided to stay in California and work with Cal Arts as an intern for a professor until she was able to find a job. That’s why the pact had been made. It was one of the few things they’d promised before graduation. As Nik walked downtown, she checked her watch. The digital watch told her it was 10:04am. She was running late and hadn’t even gotten the drinks yet. Nik spotted the Sweet Tooth Café. She frequented the Sweet Tooth Café near Yale during the school year. Nik hadn’t known there was one in her hometown. She wondered if it was as good as the one she spent long nights in? It was worth a shot and the nearest Starbucks was a long distance from here. She crossed the street and pushed the door open.

 

Gabriel always loved Fall. There was a certain flair of pizazz when it came around. Everyone was happy. Fall meant Halloween was a month away and Christmas was only three months away. There was no in-between if you listened to Tumblr. There was one downside to Fall, however. Pumpkin Spiced everything. Pumpkin Spice cookies. Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice lollipops. Pumpkin Spiced Lattes. Especially the last one. You see, Gabriel was a coffee shop barista. So far on the first day of fall all he had made was Pumpkin Spiced drinks. Not a single person had ordered a normal hot drink. Even if it was just a simple hot chocolate with cinnamon. Gabriel didn’t care. The door was pushed open and the bell ringed. Hearing the sound, Gabriel looked up. A young woman walked through. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. She wore jeans, black chucks, a jumper over a printed tee and a beanie. As she got further indoors, the woman removed the beanie. Gabriel could practically anticipate what the patron was going to order; a pumpkin spice latte. She looked the type. She walked up to Adam who was running cashier for the morning shift.

“Hi,” Her sweet voice reached Gabriel’s ears “Could I please get two hot chocolates? To go?”

“Sure,” Adam smiled at the girl “Your name?”

“Nik,” Adam grabbed two cups and wrote the name of them. He slides them down the counter to Gabriel. Gabriel smiled and brought out the chocolate.

“That will be $6.60,” Adam told Nik. Nik handed over the money.

“If you wait by the barista, he’ll give you your hot chocolates,”

“Thanks,”

“Have a good day,” Nik walked down the counter to Gabriel.

“Morning,” She greeted.

“Morning to you,” Gabriel replied “Thank you,”

“For what?” Nik asked, surprised.

“For not ordering a pumpkin spice drink,”

“I wouldn’t dare order pumpkin spice,” Nik said “I never understood that trend,”

“Neither could I,” Gabriel admitted. The two adults shared a comfortable silence. Gabriel began heating the milk up. Then Nik’s face scrunched up.

“Could you make sure that neither drinks have cinnamon? My friend’s allergic to cinnamon,” Nik asked.

“Sure,” Gabriel smiled “What a weird allergy,” He mixed the milk in with the chocolate.

“Trust me. I know,” Nik laughed “One time, one of our other friends gave her a slice which had cinnamon in it. Alyssa had already eaten her slice when she found out that it had cinnamon in it. She spent the rest of the day with a swollen tongue,”

“Your poor friend,”

“Yeah,” Gabriel filled the two take away cups with the hot chocolate he had made. He put the snap lids on. He took the silver sharpie off his apron. He wrote his number on one cup and no cinnamon on the other. He handed them to Nik.

“We should talk more,” Gabriel said “It’s good to find someone who hates pumpkin spice as much I do,” Nik smiled “And tell your friend that I kept the cinnamon away from the hot chocolate,” Nik laughed again.

“Thanks…”

“Gabriel, Gabriel Novak,”

“I’m Nik Chase. It was nice to meet you, Gabriel,” Nik walked away from the counter, drinks in hand. She pushed the door open and the bell rang. Nik left the café. Gabriel smiled.

“You are so cliché dude,” Adam laughed.

“I know,”

 

Alyssa was waiting for you at the park entrance, holding giant pretzels.

“You’re late Nik,”

“Sorry,” Nik apologised “The barista and I were talking. He wants you to know that he kept the cinnamon away from the hot chocolate,” She handed Alyssa one of the cups. Alyssa laughed when she saw what was written on the lid of her cup.

“So what did he put on yours?” Alyssa asked, curious.

“His number,” Alyssa smiled brightly.

“That’s my girl – save it to your phone now before you throw the cup away,”

“Lyss… I’m only going to be here another week before I go back to Yale,” Nik told her best friend “It wouldn’t be fair on Gabriel,”

“So you’re already on first name basis then?” Alyssa perked up at the name “You need to call him Nik, or at least text him,”

“Maybe,” Alyssa went straight for Nik’s pocket. She pulled out Nik’s I-phone. She unlocked it and turned Nik’s cup around so that Gabriel’s number was facing her.

“How did you know my passcode?”

“You never change it,”

“I changed it last week,”

“From what? 2424?”

“Yeah,”

“You’re good to go. Gabriel’s number is loaded,” Alyssa handed back the phone. Nik grabbed it and put it back in her pocket.

“So how’s Cal Arts treating you?”

“It’s good. I’m glad that they offered me an internship there. You know how hard it’s going to get a job,” Alyssa replied

“Don’t I know,” Nik laughed “I’m just glad that Mrs Baker-Simpson still lives here or else I’d be on the job hunt for a long time,”

“She’s still alive?” Nik punched Alyssa in the shoulder.

“You’re her next door neighbour idiot. You know she’s alive,”

“If you say so,” Alyssa took a sip of her drink “This is really good. Where did you get it done?”

“The Sweet Candy Café,”

“Then your Gabriel wouldn’t happen to be Gabriel Novak?”

“Yeah, that’s what he called himself,” Nik took a sip of her drink. Alyssa was right. It was really good.

“He’s okay,” Alyssa said “Can be a jerk sometimes but otherwise he’s a pretty cool person,”

“And you know this how?”

“I was dating his sister Hannah back in freshmen year,”

“I don’t remember either of us dating during that time period,”

“At Cal Arts dummy,” Alyssa smirked “We went out for maybe three months,”

“I do not need details Lyss,” Nik complained, knowing exactly what three months and a smirk meant to her best friend.

“Well you haven’t seen any action at all,”

“Can you not pronounce to the world that I’m a virgin,” Alyssa rolled her eyes.

“What are best friends for?” Nik sighed.

“I can’t believe I’ve put up with you nearly ten years,”

“I can’t believe it either,” The two friends started laughing and continued on their walk.

 

It was almost ten at night when Gabriel’s phone vibrated. He walked over to it. The notification said it was an unknown number. He opened the text up. It was from Nik. Gabriel smiled as she complemented his barista skills. He quickly sent Nik a reply. There was no waiting for Nik to see the message. Or for her to reply. Before Gabriel knew it, the clock had turned 1am. He’d learnt so much about Nik Chase. She was in her last year of an accounting degree which she was studying at Yale. She shared an apartment with a med student during the semester. Nik was fluent in two languages – French which she had studied at High School and Japanese which she took instead of French as it clashed with her other classes at Yale. Her favourite colour was a bright sky blue while her favourite number was 24. 24 was coincidently was the date of her birthday. She had lived in the same town her entire life never moving house once. Nik’s passion was acting but wanting a more practical job had decided on taking accounting. And if she was to win a million dollars she would first buy herself a new laptop (her current one was five years old and nearing the end of its life) before giving some money to her brothers, parents and her best friend Alyssa and if there any left it would go into her bank account for her retirement or house. Nik had two brothers – an older twin called Mark and a younger one called Oscar. She and Mark were close. They had even chosen the same college to go to. Nik and Oscar hadn’t really talked much since going to Yale. Gabriel suspected it had something to do with the fact that the youngest sibling always got more attention. Gabriel had experience in that department. He hoped that Nik had learnt just as much about him as he had her. Nik sent one final text before both fell asleep.

 

Nik walked into the café where Gabriel worked. The bell rang and the barista looked up. It was Gabriel. He smiled at her. Nik smiled back. Nik walked up to the counter. It was the same person manning the front as yesterday.

“Morning,” He greeted

“Good morning,” Nik replied, “Could I get a hot chocolate please?”

“Sure thing. Name?”

“Nik,”

“That will be $3.30,”

“Here you go,” Nik said as she handed over her money.

“Thanks,” The Cashier said.

“Have a good day,” Nik smiled as she left the counter and stood by the coffee machine.

“Good morning Nik,” Gabriel greeted his new friend.

“Morning Gabe. How’s life?”

“Just a little less pumpkin spicy,” Gabriel admitted “I’ve made maybe 40 pumpkin spiced lattes since I started nearly four hours ago,”

“I understand why cafés add pumpkin spice items to the menu at this time of your but do every café in America have to have it?”

“Apparently so,” Nik and Gabriel stood in silence. The only noise was the quiet chatter from the other café patrons and the sound of the milk being heated. Gabriel grabbed two takeaway cups from under the bench. He filled the cups to the brim with the hot chocolate he had just made. After snapping the lids on, Gabriel removed his apron. Gabriel placed it on one of the hooks on the wall. He handed the hot chocolates to Nik.

“Hot chocolate for two,”

“I only ordered one – and I defiantly paid for only one,” Nik frowned in confusion.

“Well you see it’s my knock off time and I want a hot chocolate and go on a walk with my friend,” Gabriel exited the counter and came around front. Nik handed him a hot chocolate back. Gabriel smiled.

“You’re not supposed to knock off until Balthazar gets here,” The cashier complained.

“Cover for me? I’ll bring you those lollies you like tomorrow please Adam,” Gabriel begged. Nik didn’t catch him mouth ‘I have a really hot date’ to Adam.

“Okay, sure – have fun,” Adam smiled.

“Sweet, come on Nik – let’s go,” Gabriel beamed at 100%. If it was any bright, Nik would have needed sunglasses. She laughed and they walked out.

 

As Nik and Gabriel walked, talked and drank in the park, Gabriel knew something was up with Nik. He was about to ask when Nik stopped walking. She looked crestfallen.

“Gabriel. It’s been great getting to know you,” Nik whispered “But I go back to Yale in five days. I won’t be back here until the end of the school year after I’ve graduated. And sure I’ll be here for Christmas and Thanksgiving but most of my time will be spent with my family and working on some of my schoolwork,”

“Are you breaking up with me?”

“We aren’t even together,” Nik said “And as much as I wish that to be false, it would be unfair on you if we went any further. I am going to be focusing a lot on my schooling. More often than not I’ll be studying. Having a relationship with someone close by is hard. Having a long distance relationship? I’ll more than likely forget about it and I don’t want that to happen,” Gabriel saw tears brim around Nik’s eyes. All he wanted to do was wipe them away. But he couldn’t.

“Maybe when I’m home for good we could try something but until then I cannot allow you to be put through that,” And the tears started falling.

“Nik,” Gabriel whispered, “Is it okay if I hug you?” Nik nodded. Gabriel pulled his friend into his arms.

“It’s okay,” He told her “I understand where you are coming from, I truly do. And I’ll wait for you,” They stood there hugging for a few minutes. The fall breeze had a nip to it and made the fallen leaves dance. It was like one of those scenes from a romantic movie.

“Can I take you anywhere Nik?” Gabriel asked, letting go “Your home? The library?”

“Can you take me home please?”

“Sure,”

 

Nik looked out the car window. Familiar streets rushed past. They past the street where Mark had fallen off his bike and broken his foot. Nik had been the one to call their mum to tell her what had happened. Oscar hadn’t been very happy as he had been at a movie with his friends when it occurred. Then they passed the street where Oscar’s best friend lived. Liam was sitting on the front porch with a book. And finally, Gabriel drove past Nik’s favourite place in the world; the small and unknown hall. As a kid, she and Mark would go inside and play with the balls left out. In high school, Nik often did work in the building to get away from the noise in her house.

“Just tell me where to stop,” Gabriel pulled into the street that Nik’s family lived on.

“It’s the house with the Happy 4th of July banner,” Nik quietly told Gabriel “Dad hasn’t bothered to take it down yet,” Nik heard Gabriel snuff a laugh. Nik felt the car pull off to the side of the road.

“We’re here,” Gabriel quietly said “I’ll walk you to the door,” Nik pulled her jacket tighter as she felt a rush of cold air. The only downside to this season was the cold air. Gabriel opened the passenger door. Nik took off her seatbelt. Together they walked to Nik’s front door. Nik saw the door open and Mark exit. He was going to make a scene; Nik knew it. She pushed past him.

“Thanks for the ride Gabe,” She muttered, leaving her friend to face her twin.

 

“Thanks for the ride Gabe,” Nik muttered as she pushed past one of her brothers. The brother looked angry.

“What did you do to her?” The brother growled.

“We went for a walk and we talked okay,” Gabriel calmly told the brother “There were some things said and I took Nik home. If you want more details, talk to your sister,” The brother looked at Gabriel. “If you hurt her….”

“You’ll find me and hurt me. I know the whole big brother speech. I’ve had to say it a few times myself,” Gabriel finished the sentence “I’ll see you around Mark,” And with that, Gabriel left Nik’s house.

 

Nik was sitting on the steps. Today was the day she and Mark left home for college for the last time. Mark was putting their luggage in their mum’s car. He’d asked her about Gabriel the day he had dropped her home. Nik had poured her heart out to her twin. It was something they had always done. Mark had tried to comfort her but it hadn’t really worked.

“Come on Nikki,” Mark yelled “We need to leave in five minutes if Mum wants to drop us off and be back in time for that dinner,”

“I’ll be there in a few,”

“He’s not coming Nik,” Mark said “Whether it be Oscar or Gabriel – he’s not coming,”

“I know Oscar isn’t coming,” Nik rolled her eyes “Our little brother never comes to see us off no matter how much he wants to say goodbye to you,”

“He has soccer training today,”

“He has it every year on the day we leave. He hates me,” Nik replied.

“No, he doesn’t,”

“Oh yes, he does. Ever since we went to New Zealand he won’t talk to me,”

“And what about Gabriel?”

“I’m not expecting anything from him,”

“Well then get in the car,”

“Fine,” Nik reluctantly agreed. Nik got up and walked to her mum’s car. She got into the back seat and closed the door behind her. She heard two more doors slam shut. The car had just passed town boundaries when Nik’s phone went off. She looked down at her screen. It was a text message from Gabriel. She opened it up. The message read ‘Hot Chocolate for two?’ followed by two coffee cup emojis. Nik did not reply.

 

It had been two weeks since Nik had left for college. And all Gabriel could do was think about Nik and scheme about how he was going to see her again. Gabriel had contacted Nik’s friend Alyssa and her younger brother to get Nik’s location. Once he had gotten that, he put in a transfer slip. The one good side of being a barista in your older brother’s café chain was that he could get a practically instant transfer. The downside? Working as a barista in your older brother’s café chain meant that you’d have to eventually give into said brother’s demands. For years, Michael had been trying to get Gabriel to move to New Haven, Connecticut. After all, it was where Gabriel had grown up and where all his family lived. But Gabriel somehow always managed to come up with excuses to not move back. Naturally, Michael had been curious as to why, after all this time, Gabriel had put in a transfer to the one near Yale University. So Gabriel told him all about Nik. When he got the reply from Michael he could basically hear the laughter. Gabriel could still hear it when the clock turned 5pm. He took off his apron for the last time.

“I’m sorry to see you go,” Adam said

“I’ll be back – Just got to chase a dream first,” Adam laughed.

“Well I hope you managed to catch her,”

“Me too,”

 

“I’m going to that party with Ned tonight,” Nik’s roommate, Grace said as she put up her hair.

“That’s nice,” Nik didn’t look up from her accounting homework. Said homework was spread around the table in front of the couch she was sitting on.

“You should come,” Grace turned around “All you’ve done since we got back to school is stay in this apartment expect for your classes and the occasional shopping run,”

“I told you, Grace, I’m trying to focus on my schoolwork. I have no time for that party or this party,”

“No, it’s not that. You’ve changed,” Grace pondered “There’s a different air around you,”

“Of course I’ve changed. It’s been three months since we last saw each other,”

“Well, you’ve changed a lot Nik – Since we’ve been back I don’t think I’ve ever seen you step foot in that café, what’s it called? Sweet Tooth Café?” Grace told Nik, turning herself back to the mirror “Last year I had to literally drag you back here when it closed,”

“Did you know that they had a branch in my hometown?” Nik muttered “I’ve lived there my whole life and I didn’t even know it was there,”

“It probably popped up during the last year,”

“It was established three years ago,”

“Okay – you don’t know random stats without a reason. Who have you been stalking?” Grace whipped around.

“No one,” Grace rolled her eyes and picked up Nik’s phone.

“Hey!” Nik protested.

“You should really change your passcode Nik,” Grace muttered “Here we go. Facebook,”

“No!” Nik got up from her spot. She rushed towards Grace, arm stretched out. At the last minute, Grace turned away; Nik’s phone out of reach for Nik.

“Recent Searches. Gabriel Novak; Sweet Tooth Café; Hannah Novak; Alyssa Dawson and Kings of Con,” Grace raised her eyebrow at the last search.

“It features some of my favourite actors okay? I want to watch it and I’m trying to find its release date,” Grace shook her head.

“Let’s see who this Gabriel Novak is,”

“No don’t!” Nik went for her phone once again. Grace dodged her roommate.

“Oh he’s cute,” Grace commented “Here we go. Hometown is New Haven but lives in Cimarron, Kansas. He works at Sweet Tooth Café in Cimarron. So you two had a summer romance?”

“It was fall and I’d hardly call it a romance when we weren’t even together,” Grace went quiet. She looked back down at Nik’s phone. She smiled. She tapped at the screen a few times.

“Well, I’ve got to go. I said that I’d meet Ned on the corner in a few minutes,”

“Have fun,” Grace grabbed her bag and placed Nik’s phone on the table.

“See you tomorrow?” Grace asked

“As you said I don’t leave here unless I have a class or the occasional shopping run,”

“Don’t forget to close that window,” Grace instructed Nik, pointing to the window that overlooked the road.

“Okay,” Nik picked up her phone and went back to her accounting paper. She put her phone screen up on the table.

“Why isn’t this balancing?” Nik muttered, picking up a piece of paper. She picked up another which had all the information on it. Then her phone lit up. Nik picked it up and put the pieces of paper down. The notification was from Facebook and read ‘Gabriel Novak has accepted your friend request’. Nik stared at the phone for a minute before her phone lit up with a new notification. It was from the Facebook messenger app. She opened it up. The app opened to a chat between herself and Gabriel. Gabriel’s message was ‘Look outside your window’. Nik got up, curious. She walked over to the window that Grace had pointed to earlier. She looked down the three storeys to the road. And there was Gabriel. Nik opened the window.

“What are you doing here?” She yelled.

“Come down and I’ll tell you!” Gabriel yelled back. Nik sighed, closed the window and ran out the door. It only took Nik two minutes to run down the stairs and outside into the brisk fall air. With winter only two months away, Nik regretted not bringing a coat. Gabriel was standing outside the apartment block door.

“What are you doing here?” Nik asked once again.

“Well I just got off work and I have two hot chocolates and I was wondering if you’d like to have one,” Gabriel replied, producing two takeaway cups of hot drinks. Nik immediately snatched one. She took a sip of the warm chocolate. Gabriel smiled.

“What? It’s the middle of fall, I have no coat on and quite frankly it’s a bit nippy,” Nik explained herself “So what are you really doing here Gabriel?”

“My brother owns the chain of cafés I work for. He’s been trying to get me up here for a while and I guess I finally have something to come up here for,”

“And what would that something would be?” Nik asked.

“You,” There was silence. Nik opened her mouth. Gabriel cut her off.

“Nik. I know you didn’t want a long-distance relationship. And I also know you want to focus on your studies but I want us to work,” Nik smiled.

“I also want us to work,”

“Do you want to give it a try?”

“Yeah. I do,” Nik replied.

“Do you want to go for a walk?”

“I don’t have a coat,” Gabriel quickly removed his coat.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m wearing two coats isn’t?” Nik rolled her eyes, accepted Gabriel’s offer of a coat and handed him her hot chocolate.

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Nik smiles. Gabriel smiles.

“I think this is going to work,”

“Me too,”

 


End file.
